Lowe Campbell Ewald creative director Iain Lanivich says, 'In Detroit, you have the opportunity not just to make a product, but to define the city's future.'

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Detroit Free Press Business Writer

Ad agency Lowe Campbell Ewald is trumpeting its move to downtown Detroit in a promotional video aimed at other businesses that might be discouraged from investing in the city in the wake of the bankruptcy.

The four-minute video — designed for a presentation at next year’s South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas — starts with dazzling shots of Campus Martius, the Renaissance Center, the Detroit Athletic Club and other downtown architecture.

“Whether you are a designer, an innovator, an entrepreneur, or an investor, you are in this business to create, to help a cause, or maybe to just simplify one’s life,” Iain Lanivich, the agency’s creative director says. “In Detroit, you have the opportunity not just to make a product, but to define the city’s future.”

Lanivich said he and a team of about six colleagues spent four days writing, producing and filming the video.

If the video gets enough votes on SXSW’s website, Lanivich plans to develop the video into a full-fledged presentation for next year’s conference at the festival.

“I would love to go there and represent our company and our city to spread the passion that is going on in the city right now,” Lanivich said.

Maureen Krauss, vice president of economic development for the Detroit Regional Chamber, said it’s great to see any company stepping up to help promote a positive image for the city in the midst of a crisis.

“It is great to see a message that is different from what has been going on since the bankruptcy,” Krauss said.

The video confronts the July 18 Chapter 9 bankruptcy immediately by using a black background with words in white capital letter that blitz across the screen: “BANKRUPT. ABANDONED. CORRUPT. DECAYED. ALIVE.”

Young professionals in other cities often labor unnoticed for years without much of a chance to make a difference beyond their employers, but the video says Detroit is different.

“So if you want to come to Detroit and change things and become part of that vanguard movement that is going to speak for the rest of the nation and what happens, you would come to Detroit,” Kevin Krease, one of the co-ordinators of Detroit’s failed bid to host next summer’s ESPN X Games, says on the video. The sports entertainment giant selected Austin to host the games through 2017.

Lowe Campbell Ewald announced plans earlier this year to move its 600 employees from Warren to a warehouse adjacent to Ford Field. The agency will lease the 122,000-square-foot space for 11 years.